Sword of Damocles
by Aqua Lion
Summary: The Damocles Commando is sent to wipe out the last of the Smoke Jaguars. It's supposed to be a quick strike, until everything that can go wrong does... (MW3 story)
1. Meeting the Team

**Sword of Damocles**   
Chapter One: Meeting The Team 

***** 

Sitting in a small briefing room aboard the DropShip _BlackHammer_, Conner Sinclair was nervous. He had little experience with the feeling. Nervousness did not suit him, and he didn't enjoy it one bit. 

But who could blame him for being nervous? 

It was only two years since the Inner Sphere had struck at Huntress, the Smoke Jaguar homeworld, and routed the Jaguars. But, it couldn't be that easy. Brendan Corbett, one of the Clan's Galaxy Commanders, had escaped to the planet Tranquil, where he now intended to rally what was left of his Clan and resurrect it. 

It could not be allowed. But the Inner Sphere forces had very little left in the way of firepower, especially when much of it was heading to Strana Mechty. Sinclair was one of only 24 MechWarriors who had volunteered to be reassigned from Task Force Serpent to the Damocles Commando, and their mission was to take on the whole planet of Tranquil. 

Operation Damocles had been planned well, but still, two companies against an entire Clan were not odds Conner much liked, no matter how depleted the clan might be. Not to mention he was leading Commando One, and he wasn't sure he was ready for a command. Not after the loss of his first lance on Huntress... 

The bulkhead to the briefing room slid open, interrupting his thoughts. He mentally cringed. No backing out now... as if it had ever been an option. 

The man who entered swept the room swiftly with green eyes. Upon sighting Conner he stared; the lance leader stared back. He might have been handsome except for the two-inch scar running down the left side of his face. For a second the two MechWarriors sized each other up, then the newcomer broke into a broad smile. 

"Team One?" Conner asked, cautiously. He had never met any of his lancemates before, a fact which annoyed him, but... 

"Yup. Name's Dominic Paine." Dominic held out his hand, and Sinclair shook it. "You must be Lieutenant Sinclair?" 

"That's me..." 

Dominic seemed cheerful enough, but there was an underlying tension, and a perpetual look of worry in his eyes. It wasn't a difficult thing to understand, of course, not with how crucial their mission was. Every MechWarrior assigned to the Commando had to be feeling the strain. 

Whether they preferred to show it or not. 

Two more left. Rather than strike up a conversation with his warrior, Conner again examined the list of warriors he'd been given. All six commando teams were listed, but he was only worried about the first. 

Keith Andrew and Jess O'Ryan. He'd known that already, of course, but rereading the force assignments was becoming a bit of a nervous habit. One he should probably break. The silence in the cramped room was even more uncomfortable now that there was someone else sitting in it. 

Just as he was about to say something, the door opened again. Two new warriors—a tall blond man and an equally tall brunette female—entered. 

Keith and Jess. Introductions were swift, and impersonal, though Conner could've jumped up and hugged them for breaking the awkward silence. He could start the briefing now. 

"I assume that you all know the basics of what this mission entails—you volunteered, after all. So we can get down to business. Our part in the raid is here." He pointed to the screen on one wall of the briefing room, where a map of Tranquil was displayed. "We'll be inserted by drop pods near the end of the peninsula. We're to take out a Mech factory, along with any targets of opportunity we happen to run into." 

"And not get killed in the process?" Dominic inquired. 

"Right." 

"Well, that's the real catch. Couldn't they send in a bigger force? I don't know about you guys, but," he looked around at his new lancemates, "this mission seems like a pretty steep order to me." 

"It is," Keith offered quietly, "but they couldn't spare any more forces." 

There was probably a complaint or seven Dominic could've offered for that, too, but Conner interrupted. "Besides, we're not here to take on all of the Jaguars. They'll never know what hit them, if we do this right, and we won't see much resistance." 

He didn't look convinced, but the black-haired warrior offered no more questions. 

"All right. Let's get going." 


	2. Up in Flames

**Sword of Damocles**   
Chapter Two: Up In Flames 

***** 

He'd dubbed the _Bushwacker_ the Guiding Light. The same name he gave every Mech he'd ever driven, no matter how short his time in it might be. 

All systems showed nominal as Conner ran the pre-launch diagnostic tests. Again... and again... once more for good measure... 

Suddenly it was five minutes until deployment. "Team One, check in." They'd already checked in of course, now wasn't really the time to discover somebody was missing. But regulations said to it again. Just in case. 

_Nothing_ could be allowed to go wrong on this mission. 

"Damocles One-Two, ready to deploy." Dominic. 

"Damocles One-Three, all set." Keith. 

"Damocles One-Four, prepared for drop." Jess. 

A few minutes more, and the mechanical voice of Guiding Light's computer began the drop countdown. "Deploying in fifteen... fourteen... thirteen..." 

On two, the _'Wacker_'s drop pod lurched violently forward, and was shot out into space. Why so early? "Sinclair to BlackHammer, what's going—" The question was cut off as the Mech's display came online, feeding information from the cameras mounted on the outside of the drop pod onto the 360-degree screen. 

There was a gaping hole torn in the _BlackHammer_'s side, and all of the pods seemed to have been launched—all prematurely. "What the hell?" he whispered, more to himself than to anyone who might be on the same frequency. 

That answer was not long in coming. Green light flared from the planet's surface, vaporizing five—if his count was correct—of the drop pods entering the atmosphere before hitting the _BlackHammer_. A second explosion burst from the DropShip's hull. 

He switched from Team One's private frequency to the common channel, but very little was making sense. 

"What the hell was that?" 

"This is the _Eclipse_, we are abandoning the mission!" 

"Mayday, mayday, we are going down..." 

A burst of static ended all transmissions, and Conner knew chances were good that with the exploding DropShip in the atmosphere he wasn't going to hear anything else until he hit the ground. 

***** 

"I _said_ get me online!" Corporal Thomas Sorenson was usually fairly calm and easygoing, but then again, he usually wasn't watching a DropShip and half of the mission's forces going up in flames. His uncharacteristically snapped order brought a quick response from the tech working the communications unit of Team One's lead mobile field base vehicle. "We'll worry about the others later." 

Nodding nervously, the tech punched in the connection to Lieutenant Conner Sinclair's Battlemech. 

"Lieutenant, this is Sorenson. Your field base commander. We're down on target, but you're falling slightly off... if your course doesn't change, you should splashdown just outside of this fishing village." As he spoke, he patched some old probe data from an early flyby of the planet to the _Bushwacker_. "Status of the _BlackHammer_ is still uncertain, so for now rendezvous with us here—" he highlighted the area for Sinclair— "and we'll go from there." 

"What about the others?" 

Sorenson had been hoping he wouldn't say that. "We haven't been able to contact anyone else from the _Hammer_. The _Eclipse_ has abandoned its run." The _Eclipse_ was the second DropShip, carrying commandos 4 through 6. "It's set down beyond the mountain ranges to the north." 

One of the techs, who'd been looking over the probe information, signaled to him. "Hang on, new data..." 

***** 

Conner was a bit annoyed. Status of the _BlackHammer_ was uncertain? What the hell was that supposed to mean? The damn ship had all but exploded. He waited for Sorenson to come back online. 

"Sir, our probe data is extremely out of date," he began, almost apologetically, "but... the only way you can get here is over this bridge." On one of the _'Wacker_'s monitors, green dot highlighted the area Sorenson was speaking of. "It's protected by SRM emplacements, so watch your step. Also, there's a large facility near our location that seems to be a communications center. Take it out on your way here." 

"Right." No sooner had Sorenson finished speaking than the drop pod's explosive charges blew, separating the pod from the Mech. His main screen changed to show the Tranquil sky, and suddenly Guiding Light struck the ground with a jolt. 

Water, just as Sorenson had said. He checked his radar—two contacts. APCs both, and easy targets. Across the beach they came, still out of their firing range. He wasn't going to let them get into it. 

Backing further into the ocean, he drifted his reticule over the first vehicle and waited a moment for his LRMs to lock. Three of the missiles smashed into the sand, probably making visibility hell but otherwise not affecting the oncoming APC. The other seven hit dead-on, but all in different parts of the vehicle, not quite enough to destroy it. 

Irritated, Conner triggered his large laser, aiming not at the already savaged vehicle but its companion. The laser's touch melted away two of the APC's wheels, but it was going too fast to stop. Instead it ended up plowing into the damaged vehicle, causing both to explode. 

Easy enough. He exited the water just past the Jaguar village, checked his radar again. Two turrets were showing but he didn't have a direct line of sight, so there wasn't a lot he could do about it. He started towards the bridge. 

Static. "You want us to leave it?" Even through the interference that heralded an intercepted Clan broadcast, he could hear the disbelief. "Hauling explosives... aff. Parking it on the bridge." 

"Did you get that?" Sorenson asked immediately. "Laborer frequencies. But definitely something about explosive charges. Watch your step, sir." 

"Don't need to tell me twice." Distracted by the broadcast, Conner was slightly surprised when a pair of missiles impacted the _Bushwacker_'s arm. The turrets. He turned his Mech to the first of them and silenced it with his laser, then aimed for the second. 

Before he could get a shot off at it his sensors screamed a warning. "Mech power-up detected." 

"Damn." He switched to the new target, ignoring when one of the new flight of missiles hit Guiding Light's flank. Even as he prepared to face the newcomer, tagged as an _Owens_, he triggered a burst from his autocannon which obliterated the turret in seconds. 

An _Owens_. What the hell was the Clan doing with an _Owens_? One of the newest toys from Luthien Armor Works back in the Draconis Combine, the Omni's presence caught him slightly off guard. Salvaged from the Huntress campaign no doubt. Reinforcements had arrived faster than he'd thought. 

While a light Mech, the 35-ton machine was on the top end of that category. His computer tagged it as the one serious combat configuration the _Owens_ possessed, but his Mech should be able to smash it easily. Relatively. 

As long as he didn't let it use its speed to very much effect, which meant not letting it on the beach. While the lighty was trying to clear the cliff, he raced up the bridge. 

His sensors went off a second too late as a fireball consumed the bridge. "Holy—" Whatever he was about to say was cut off as the _'Wacker_ stumbled backwards, forced off-balance by the destruction of the bridge. The gyro recovered, but just barely, and the Owens managed to get off the first shot. 

Only one laser hit, one of the mediums, melting a bit of armor off Guiding Light's right leg. He snapped off a shot with his autocannon and laser, nearly taking the Owens' arm off... but not quite. 

The field base had obviously picked up the explosion. "What's going on over their, sir?" 

"The bridge blew." 

"Ah... the hauling explosives." It seemed a little late to be remembering that transmission, Conner thought, trading shots with the Jaguar. "We missed that one, sorry." 

Speaking of missing... his laser went wide. Annoyed, he hammered at the _Owens_ with his autocannon and, as an afterthought, the machine guns mounted on the Bushwacker's nose. 

The _Owens'_ skinny left leg snapped under the assault, sending it pitching to the ground. But the Jaguar pilot was good, snapping off another shot even as the Mech fell and costing the _'Whacker_ nearly half a ton of armor from its right torso. 

Cursing under his breath, he drilled another autocannon shot into the fallen Mech, this time melting through the last of its armor. His laser followed up, coring through to the reactor. 

"Sorenson, do you have any more contacts?" he asked, looking away from the explosion. He was tired of being taken by surprise by every Jaguar under the Tranquil sun. 

"There's a lot of movement, but nothing especially close," the intel analyst reported. "Take out that communications facility and come to the rendezvous point. We've received some information from Captain Taylor of the _Eclipse_." 

Finding the facility and lining up his first shot at a large com dish, Conner read Sorenson's tone easily. It wasn't good news, whatever it was. He could guess. 

The mission was still on. 


	3. Signs of Life

**Sword of Damocles**   
Chapter Three: Signs of Life 

_A/N- Trial by Fire's still up somewhere? Wow. I remember that from when it was still up at the official MW3 site (since there still _was_ an official MW3 site -_-') but anyway..._

***** 

"No determination on the status of DropShip _BlackHammer_. We assume it is down. Act according with mission specifications until we devise a rescue plan." 

"That was Captain Taylor's response to my request for information," Sorenson explained as the audio feed ended. Conner growled a few expletives he hadn't realized he'd known. They _assumed_ the DropShip was down? That was the most idiotic thing he'd ever heard... where else did they think it was? "Our extraction is an unknown factor at this time. So, we continue with the mission. We do have some good news however. Gunner Paine is down, he's made contact and is moving into position to flank us. Right now the plan is to rendezvous with him in the final strike of the operation, at the Mech factory." 

"Dominic made it?" Conner repeated, hardly willing to believe it. "So half of the lance is down..." Frowning, he walked the _'Wacker_ into the field base's repair area and powered down Guiding Light's reactor. "All right. What's next?" 

"There is a barracks in the southern edge of the area, we're hoping for some good salvage there. All reports indicate it is lightly defended, mostly vehicles. However..." 

The probe data stopped, and centered on what looked to be some sort of weapons emplacement. "These are heavy missile platforms, and they're sitting right where we'll need to move the field bases for our next mission. They have a range well beyond the barracks area, so you might want to take them out first. Our analysis shows a blind spot in the south." 

Already Conner was mapping out his route in his mind. He could swing wide around the plateau, go along the southern edge of the valley, and hopefully take out the platforms with little difficulty. 

It was too much to hope that everything would go as planned. But it wasn't as though nothing had gone wrong already. Maybe he'd get lucky. 

***** 

Keith Andrew's CPLT-C3 _Catapult_ picked its way over the landscape near the northern edge of operations area 3. The MechWarrior was less than pleased. A pair of _Fireflies_, patrolling the area, had caught him soon after landing. 

The _Firefly_ was a solid design, but it was still a lighty, and still relatively slow for its weight. What might've been two easy kills for any other member of the Damocles operation, he'd barely been able to pull off. 

The problem, of course, was that he was the artillery support of the mission. With the Arrow IV system taking up most of his Mech's space, all he had for effective weaponry was four medium lasers—hardly better than what one _Firefly_ carried. And they'd been able to keep him ranged to add their small LRM rack to the mix, since a slow lighty was still faster than a slow heavy. 

But he was certainly not a member of the Damocles Commando because of luck. Keith was good. And though it'd cost him more than he would've liked, he'd been able to put the two Jaguars down. 

What really bothered him was the way they'd fought. Concentrating their fire. It just wasn't something Clanners did. Were they that desperate? Stupid question, he mused, after the way the _BlackHammer_ had been shot from the sky... 

"Andrew to _Eclipse_," he spoke, finally, black eyes narrowing at the lack of any reply. "Andrew to Damocles... anybody out there?" He'd already attempted to contact the rest of the Inner Sphere forces, of course. Several times, in fact. He really didn't expect a response this time either, but... 

He had to keep trying. The Damocles Commando's warriors could not give up. 

***** 

"Sorenson, I'm having some problems over here..." 

Understatement. Firing the Guiding Light's laser into the Jaguar _Strider_'s flank, Conner forced his _Bushwacker_ into a run. A new flight of missiles from the platforms to the north just barely swarmed by, creating a huge crater in the dirt. 

He was faced with what seemed to be a lose-lose situation. He could stay out in the open, at the mercy of the missile platforms, trading shots with the _Strider_ and _Owens_ which had appeared to challenge his run. Or he could disengage and run for the blind spot to the south, but there was a good chance one of his faster enemies could get to his thin rear armor if he tried it. Not able to be distracted long enough to figure out how to deal with the situation, he would have to rely on Sorenson. 

"That hill to the east might give you some cover," the analyst offered after a moment's thought. 

Conner glanced at the map on one of the _Bushwacker_'s secondary monitors. A hill with some sort of construction built right into it, only about two hundred meters away. He'd noted it before, but it didn't look large enough to provide much shelter... 

Slim chance was better than none at all. He throttled Guiding Light into reverse, lashing out at the _Strider_ again with his laser and autocannon. The _Owens'_ LRMs hammered more armor from his left arm, but he did his best to ignore it. The _Strider_ was more dangerous and had to go down first. 

As if to confirm his assessment, the medium Omni managed to score with a full salvo from both of its SRM packs, stripping the Bushwacker's left flank of its last protection. A new flight from the platforms was incoming... 

Then he was behind the hill, and an explosion audible even in his cockpit told him the barrage had struck the dirt. 

He launched his own LRMs and another round from his autocannon. The missiles went wide of their target and nearly struck the _Owens_, but the depleted uranium shells hit dead on, punching into the already savaged Jaguar Mech. The gyro went, followed by engine shielding. Its pilot bailed seconds before the explosion. 

The smoking _Strider_ already forgotten, his laser lanced out at the lighter Omni. Maneuverability was limited behind the hill's cover, and the enemy's speed gave it a clear advantage. 

Yet the _Owens_ was running at him, coming in range of his best weapon, the autocannon. Why, though? What was the point of driving a light Mech into the optimum range of such heavy weaponry? 

No sense passing up the advantage. He snapped off a shot with all of his weapons, aside from the machine guns which were not yet in range. It was only when he glanced at his weapons status on his HUD that he realized the problem the _Owens_ was having. 

The same one he'd just been struck with. No ammo. 

***** 

"We have reports of enemy flanking. Hold your positions. Engage _only_ on direct line of sight." 

Dominic frowned at the intercepted transmission, then carefully steered his _Shadow_ _Cat_ over the ground behind the Smoke Jaguar Mech he'd been following. He was running low on gauss rifle ammunition but that was okay, if he did this right he would only have to use up one round. It was just a _Puma_, after all. 

Of course, he predicted something would go wrong. Something always went wrong. 

No sense in worrying about that until it happened. And while he couldn't paste on his counterfeit cheerfulness from the _BlackHammer_—not in the field, not after the DropShip's destruction—even Damocles' master cynic had to admit odds were better than fair that he could handle this. A quick smash and run. He'd already done it plenty of times. 

He approached his quarry, slowly at first, then pushed his Black Prospect into full throttle. The _Puma_ had to know he was coming by now. 

It did. 

Already, his _Cat_ was not in the best shape it could've been. Being hit with one PPC, let alone two, was way down near the bottom of his priority list. 

As the Puma raised its arms to fire, he kicked in his jump jets, closing with the smaller Battlemech. The blue lightning went low, as he'd hoped, then it was his turn. 

Not for nothing had Dominic Paine been given the callsign Gunner back during his training days. Given a few moments to aim he could hit anything. Even from 400 meters out, running at an angle and against a rather quickly moving target. 

Lasers splashed away armor from the head of the enemy Battlemech. Then his gauss rifle spat a silver blur at the light Omni's cockpit, smashing ferroglass and framework and MechWarrior before its advance ended. 

He allowed himself a grim smile. "Took him down with one shot." 

***** 

Though without any autocannon ammo, Conner still had missiles and his laser, and that should be enough to take the _Owens_ down. It didn't make him enjoy the situation any more. 

Lasers struck his exposed left side, by some miracle failing to hit the engine shielding and instead destroying a machine gun. He fired his own weapons and stripped the small Mech's right arm off. Not that it helped his case. Nothing there except the depleted LRM rack. 

He triggered his remaining machine gun, out of range but not intending to do any damage. It was a gamble, but all he could do as his weapons cycled. 

It paid off. The Clanner was worried slightly by the shot, just enough to pause for an instant. Since it was easier to shoot when walking slowly than sprinting around at 130 kph, the _Owens_ let off a shot from its stopped position—bad idea. 

The _Bushwacker_ weathered the storm, hit on its right flank where the armor was still relatively strong. Conner fired. Half of his missiles hit, taking armor off the Omni's right side and head. The laser hit the left leg, nearly cutting it off but not quite. 

Things were going too slowly. There had to be something he could do. 

_Friendly fire... isn't._

It was one of the simplest lessons a MechWarrior learned. Another risk, but... 

He raced out from behind the hill, fast as Guiding Light could go. The _Owens_ followed. After a moment, his radar showed another missile flight incoming. 

If he kept running forward, the missiles probably would not hit him, maybe skimming by and forming yet another crater in the dirt. Not quite what he was going for. He turned a complete 180, gyro protesting slightly as he taxed the limits of the _'Wacker_'s agility. Too late, the _Owens_—standing precisely where the _Bushwacker_ had been seconds before—tried to turn as well. 

The missiles got there first. But the _Owens_ was tougher than it looked, and despite losing nearly every shred of armor it'd had left, it remained standing. But its defiant last shots missed before Conner's laser demolished its gyro. 

The rest of the trip to the platforms was fairly uneventful. Once he'd finished destroying them, however, a new transmission came through. "This is Gunner. I'm moving forward to the next mission area." 

Not good. Whatever the next mission was, it would have to be quick. At this rate, Dominic would make it to the rendezvous point long before he could get there. But, it wasn't as though the other MechWarrior could just stand still waiting to fit into the lieutenant's schedule. 

"Right, see you there." 

"Maybe even in one piece. Gunner out." 

Sighing at his ally's pessimism, Conner turned his laser on the vehicles milling about the barracks. It wasn't a difficult task, though the two Bulldog tanks managed to sever his left arm before he was finished. Otherwise the damage was light. "Okay, the barracks is ours." He turned the _Bushwacker_ to watch the MFBs approach and see what could be salvaged. 

"We've had two more contacts, sir," Sorenson reported. "Two members of Commando Two dropped successfully and are attempting to carry out their mission—taking out a hydroelectric dam to the north." 

"Any chance to rendezvous?" 

"Not until we're finished here." 

That was fine with Conner. The mission was starting to shape up. Maybe it could be salvaged. Only a hope, again. But chances kept getting better. "Okay. Figure out how much time we've got if we're going to meet up with Dominic." And then, to get enough optimism out of his system that he and Dominic would speak the same language when they met, "We're _going_ to pull this off." 


	4. Road to Rendezvous

**Sword of Damocles**   
Chapter Four: Road to Rendezvous 

***** 

"We are here." A green light appeared on the map Conner was watching. It was situated where the missile platforms had once been, where the field bases had just arrived. The map did not show the area they'd just been through however; rather, it showed the valley that was their route to the Mech factory. "We need to be here." A red dot flashed on the other side of the valley. Probe data was routed to his _Bushwacker_, showing the intended path, buildings, and eventually a bridge. "There are two facilities near this bridge which you'll need to take out. Watch for fixed emplacements. However..." The image froze, and zoomed in on something on the far side of the bridge. 

A BattleMech, with a bullet-shaped torso projecting over blocky legs. Arms sporting heavy weaponry. An involuntary shudder ran up the MechWarrior's spine. 

Sorenson confirmed it. "An _Annihilator_. An assault Mech. ...Then again, this data is old. But keep your eyes open. Intercepted Clan broadcasts indicate that this Star Commander Freya is also somewhere nearby, and coming for us. Dominic will be waiting so we don't have a lot of time." 

Throttling Guiding Light into a walk, Conner started up the incline which would lead him to the top of the plateau, overlooking the valley. Almost immediately a voice announced, "I have good position. Enemy unaware." A Clanner, clearly not knowing that the Damocles warrior could hear every word. Sorenson's techs had recovered Clan communications codes from the center Conner had scrapped earlier. 

"That's what he thinks," the intel analyst muttered grimly. Conner allowed himself a slight smile as he headed forward to meet the challenge. 

A _Firefly_. A light but tough older design, not too much of a threat. Hopefully. He let loose with two flights of missiles, but the Firefly's anti-missile system reduced it by half, which the Jaguar 'Mech matched with a salvo of its own. 

Neither machine was horribly deterred, though one of Conner's missiles had impacted on the _Firefly_'s head and probably made the pilot very uncomfortable. He switched to his laser and melted armor from the little Mech's side, then punched autocannon shells through the softened protection. 

The Clanner's response was quick and highly effective, all three lasers finding the _'Wacker_'s arm-mounted LRM rack and melting it. Luckily the ammunition did not go off. Not a horrible loss for the moment, since he was getting into a range where he wouldn't have used the missiles anyway, but with no time to have the launcher fixed it could spell trouble soon. 

He could worry later. Lashing out again with cannon and laser, he ripped open the side of the light BattleMech, then a flight from his remaining LRM launcher found the exposed reactor. Fire blossomed from the heart of the Mech and it exploded, and Conner turned the _Bushwacker_ down the slope into the valley. 

***** 

"We're under attack! There's a _Shadow Cat_ over here." 

Epona Rhi swore and whirled her _Bushwacker_ around. "Hang on, I'm almost there. Give me a minute more..." She had a sinking feeling, she knew she was going to be too late. How the hell had the Jaguars found her field bases? She'd thought they were well hidden, waiting in a small, empty cavern for her to finish her latest scouting run. There should have been no reason for the Clanners to be down there... 

She could worry about it later. Throwing caution to the wind, she raced back to the cavern in about a fifth of the time it'd taken her to press forward. There was no point in stealth now. 

On arrival she took a quick inventory. One field base down, one getting close. The Shadow Cat was ignoring her in favor of blasting holes in her vehicles, a very stupid thing to do. 

She let off a flight of missiles to announce her presence. "Come on, then. Let's dance." 

The _Cat_ responded by triggering all of its weapons and blowing her shoulder-mounted missile rack off. All of Epona's piloting skill wasn't enough to keep the '_Wacker_ upright after the assault, and it pitched to the ground. 

Alarms rang in her ears and she swore, fought the Mech upright. While she was thus occupied the _Cat'_s lasers sliced into her Mech's right leg, but the armor had been pristine and the damage wasn't serious. She answered with her autocannon and after a moment's hesitation added her laser to the mix. 

The autocannon shells impacted on the Omni's leg and left flank, but that didn't really matter as the laser struck and destroyed the cockpit. She shook her head and turned the Bushwacker around. "Any idea what it was doing here?" 

"We've got a good idea," the field base commander replied. "We've picked up some readings through the rock... there's some sort of facility underground, and we're near the entrance." 

Epona frowned. "Something we didn't know about before? Okay... relocate and keep trying to raise any survivors. I'll go check it out." 

***** 

Conner's laser lanced out again, stripping more armor from the enemy _Bushwacker_'s flank but not doing any critical damage. Star Commander Freya answered by missing with her own laser, evaporating some of the water in the river. On the other side lay the wreckage of several Bulldog tanks and a _Strider_ who had thought to take on the Damocles Commando warrior. 

The Jaguar commander was coming off on the worse end, her autocannon ammo having already exploded. Were the _Bushwacker_ an older design it would've ended the fight right there, but the Mech's CASE system had vented the explosion and left the machine intact. 

Missiles impacted on Guiding Light's flank, and a shudder told him his gyro had been hit. He triggered his autocannon. 

The shells punched through the paper-thin armor remaining on the enemy _'Wacker_'s torso, penetrating to the engine. "Cannot avoid destruction—" she transmitted. She might've if she'd just ejected instead of announcing it... 

"Do we have time for repairs?" he inquired of Sorenson, as the field bases rolled forward. No doubt Dominic was waiting—and patience was not one of the warrior's stronger traits—but Conner's _Bushwacker_ was a mess. He wouldn't be much help in this condition. 

"Gunner reports that his location is clear for the moment. He'll move in as soon as you begin your run. But the Jaguars almost certainly have reinforcements coming, I wouldn't suggest pressing your luck..." 

Losing Dominic was not something the lieutenant was willing to risk, and every second he waited would make the mission that much harder. "Ten minutes for whatever repairs are possible, then we hit the factory. Let's get this over with." 

There was a pause. "All right. And sir? We have some bad news..." 

It figured. 


	5. Along the False Path

**Sword of Damocles**   
Chapter Five: Along the False Path 

***** 

Conner shook his head at the destruction. A _Black Hawk_, the first Clan-technology machine he'd seen on Tranquil, lay in scraps next to the wreckage of one of his field bases. While it had helped him temporarily—the Omni concentrating on destroying the vehicle rather than his _Bushwacker_—in the long run it could only cause problems. 

Sorenson couldn't be too pleased about losing the field base either, but he managed to put that aside. "We've picked up Dominic's _Shadow Cat_ coming in." 

As if on cue, the Damocles warrior's rough voice burst into the conversation. "This is Gunner. I'm moving in from the west. Where's my support?" 

The lieutenant wheeled Guiding Light around, charging towards rendezvous with his lancemate. A _Firefly_ appeared on his radar, followed seconds later an _Owens_ and the _Cat_ Dominic was piloting. He could see the smoking remains of a Strider lying on the ground a bit away from the battle, the gauss rifle the Clan Mech carried having smashed its reactor. 

He locked onto the _Owens_ with his missiles, though only five as the left-arm launcher had not been repaired yet. Three hit and tore armor off the Jaguar's blocky left arm. His laser melted more protection from the back of the Mech. 

He'd gotten its attention, at least. The small Omni turned and answered his attack with both of its own LRM launchers, blasting a little armor off his right shoulder but nothing too serious. He fired his laser again but missed the rapidly moving _Owens_, nearly hitting the _Firefly_ that Dominic was circling. His autocannon fared better, punching a line in the armor from the _Owens'_ left leg to right flank. 

Then Dominic's lasers melted the _Firefly_'s gyro and the _Shadow Cat_ also turned to Sinclair's target, which wisely decided it was time to leave. It turned and started running towards the island where the Mech factory was. Gunner was not about to let it get away so easily. 

The _Cat_ sprinted forward and kicked in its MASC, enabling it to keep pace with the smaller Mech if only for a few seconds. It was plenty of time for him to line up a shot with his gauss rifle that ripped the back of the Omni wide open. 

He slowed down and shifted the _Shadow Cat_ around to face his commander. "Nice of you to show up," he said lightly. "I've picked up an _Orion_ near the factory, but it hasn't tried to come around the ridge. All the comm traffic I've picked up indicates that it's one of their Star Captains." 

Star Captain Furey, Conner assumed from the transmissions he'd intercepted himself. And in an _Orion_... a 75-ton Mech, and though it was an older design, a 75-tonner was a 75-tonner. 

A pair of laser towers flanked the bridge to the island. Sorenson had told him what they were—naval laser towers, meant to shoot down any DropShip which might try to attack the factory. Well, now they knew what had happened to the _BlackHammer_. 

Luckily the towers weren't meant to target ground forces. 

Probably they didn't work anyway, as Conner had been returning from blowing apart the island's power plant when the Black Hawk had surprised him. Several greenhouses also lay smashed, leaving the factory their last objective. 

The factory with the _Orion_ standing ready to defend it. Conner took a deep breath. "All right, Dominic. Let's go. Stay back a little, my armor's heavier." He wasn't sure if that was true at this point, but the _Cat_'s armor at least did not look any _better_ than his own. 

Besides, after that disaster on Huntress, he had a bit of a phobia about putting his lancemates in danger. 

~~~~~   
_"Didn't the boss say not to start in yet?"_

_"It's only a Black Hawk," Conner scowled, trotting his _Catapult_ forward a little. "And it's poking around. If it finds us, this mission's blasted to hell even worse than if we destroy it early. Come on."_

_He had little doubt about the outcome of the battle. It was a Clan Mech, sure, but it was a 50-ton machine against a heavy lance. Even their inferior Inner Sphere technology wasn't enough to bridge that gap. The Jaguar didn't have a chance._

_He allowed his lancemates to go ahead of him a bit, his _Catapult_ not suited for close-range fighting. The _Avatar_, _Cestus_, and _Dragon Fire_ which made up the rest of his lance charged forward, opening fire on the _Black Hawk_ with their ranged weapons. He added his own volley of LRMs._

_The _Hawk_ went down under the intense fire, though not before striking Jesse's _Cestus_ with five of the six lasers in its left arm. The armor was thinned a bit, but the damage was not concentrated enough to breach it. Conner smiled. It was just as he'd said. No problem—_

_"I've got contacts!"_

_That was Kevin, in the Avatar. Conner's radar showed them too, just powering up: what the Clans called a Binary. He selected the nearest Mech and prepared to attack._

_And froze as it came into his field of view. A _Daishi_. Seconds later Misty's _Dragon Fire_ went down to rapid PPC fire, telling him there was also a _Masakari_ in the area. More pressing, his warrior had not ejected._

_Knowing the lance was no match for even the two assaults, let alone the rest of the Binary, he fired his LRMs at the _Daishi_ anyway. He would go down fighting, and hope to at least inflict some damage to make up for the mess he'd made._   
~~~~~ 

He'd never figured out why they had given him another command, only survivor or not. But, lessons were best learned the hard way, and he wasn't about to make the same mistake again. Nor was he going to sit here daydreaming. There was a mission to finish. 

The flashback had only distracted him for the few seconds it'd taken to cross the bridge to the island. The _Orion_ turned almost casually toward him, raised its left arm, and let off a flight of 20 long-ranged missiles. 

Luckily, the Jaguar commander had fired too quickly, not allowing the missiles time to lock. Only half hit the _Bushwacker_ and blew armor from the smaller machine's right leg and arm. It wasn't quite enough to upset the '_Wacker'_s gyro, however, or to throw off Conner's first shot. 

The _Orion_ was a big, slow target, and there wasn't a lot of room to manuever on the island. There was little chance for Conner to miss, and he didn't, the laser and LRMs combining to rip armor from the big Mech's right arm. Dominic's gauss rifle punched in a second later to smash the plates over the _Orion_'s chest. 

At the new intrusion Furey swung his torso around and fired his left torso-mounted autocannon, but luck again was with the Commando. The _Orion_'s autocannon carried only cluster ammunition, which was rarely much good at breaching armor that hadn't already been compromised. The _Shadow Cat_ did stumble under the assault, but held itself upright and returned fire with its lasers. 

Then the _Bushwacker_ was in range with its own autocannon. The slugs hammered in right behind the damage already done by Dominic's gauss rifle, though it still wasn't quite enough to penetrate the heavy Mech's tough protection. 

Furey was nonetheless not pleased, and brought all his weapons to bear on the irritating little _Bushwacker_. The _Orion_'s SRM launcher launched a quartet of missiles which blasted armor from Conner's right arm. LRMs followed despite his best efforts to get within minimum range, ripping off the arm completely, as well as the shoulder-mounted missile launcher. 

He worked the controls frantically, trying to keep Guiding Light from falling, and might've succeeded if the Jaguar had not followed up with lasers and autocannon to shred the _Bushwacker_'s internal structure. His LRM ammo went off, though between the CASE and the gaping hole in the BattleMech's side, it didn't do an awful lot more damage to the machine, not even quite enough to destroy the engine on that side. 

Though crashing to the ground with a 75-ton BattleMech bearing down on him never exactly benefited a pilot. 

***** 

"Hey, hey! Why don't you pick on someone who can fight back?" Dominic snapped at the heavy BattleMech. Clearly, Star Captain Furey had (stupidly, in his mind) considered him a lesser target than the heavier but Inner Sphere-tech _Bushwacker_. 

He'd just see about that. He kicked in Black Prospect's jump jets, rising over the big _Orion_ and coming down directly at its rear. No time to waste as his commanders _Bushwacker_ struggled to right itself before the Clanner's weapons recharged. He swung all his weapons in line with the Mech's rear armor and let Furey have it. 

With typical Clanner arrogance, the commander hadn't even paid attention to the _Shadow Cat_ flying over its head. Dominic snorted as the damn thing actually looked startled at the hit. Its back was completely stripped, and he'd also succeeded in destroying the SRM system housed in the Jaguar's left torso. 

Pity it hadn't been the ammo, he mused as the _Orion_ turned to face him. 

He slammed on the jump jet pedals again, spoiling the Star Captain's shot with autocannon and lasers, but the _Orion_ simply raised its LRM launcher and sent a full flight of missiles up towards the _Shadow Cat_. 

He cut the jets, and the _Cat_ fell, too quickly for the LRMs to track. Of course there was the possibility of crashing, but he was usually good about staying on his feet after a jump. Which was precisely why he figured this was his day to lose that fight with gravity. 

Speaking of fights with gravity, Conner had fought himself upright. The _Bushwacker_'s autocannon roared and slammed depleted-uranium shells into the breach Dominic had already made. The other Inner Sphere warrior had better luck at finding critical components, hitting the engine's heat shield as well as detonating the Narc beacon's ammo. 

The _Orion_ was too old to carry a CASE system. The explosion ripped it apart, but the Damocles Mechs didn't stand around watching. Conner turned his laser on the factory, and Dominic followed up with his own. 

The first factory tower fell. Too easily. "What the hell?" 

Conner's _Bushwacker_ turned to face the _Shadow Cat_ as the structure came crashing down. Wooden walls painted like steel fell and began burning in the fires rigged inside to give the impression on Mech manufacture. 

Not a factory at all. "It's a _fake_." 

Dominic nodded beneath his neurohelmet. It _would_ be a fake. They _would've_ wasted all this effort, wasted the lives of those aboard the _BlackHammer_. It figured. 

"Guess that means we don't get off this rock yet." 

He turned his lasers on the first tower. Conner did not answer him—nothing new, as admitting when Gunner was right seldom helped any unit's morale—but he wasn't an idiot. It didn't take a practically religious pessimist to realize that once the _Eclipse_ heard about these towers, they wouldn't be seeing it any time soon. 


	6. Picking Up the Pieces

**Sword of Damocles**   
Chapter Six: Picking Up the Pieces 

***** 

"Bad news, Commando. The survivors of Team Two completed their mission destroying the hydroelectric dam, but the Clanners hit them hard. Neither of them made it. An operative, however, discovered a previously unknown underground site." 

Dominic started to say something, but Conner overrode the transmission and cut him off. "And the Eclipse?" 

"Captain Taylor won't risk the Eclipse against any more of those laser turrets. The Commando teams are out trying to link up with us, but until they make it through, we continue with the mission. Also... we intercepted a conversation between a Jaguar Star Colonel, Ratache Osis, and his aide." Sorenson paused. "Lincoln Osis, ilKhan of the Clans, died on Strana Mechty. So the Star League must be victorious." 

Laughing, slightly, Dominic managed to get his two cents in. "I don't suppose we'll be relieved any time soon?" 

"No, probably not," the intelligence officer admitted, and quickly changed the subject. "Okay, here are the objectives. The lake bed is drained thanks to Team Two's destruction of the dam, but there are still fixed emplacements to take out. Once you've done that..." The Bushwacker's monitor changed to show a platform in the middle of a lake. "That platform holds an elevator that will take you to the site Team Two found. Let us know when all enemy resistance is cleared out, and we'll head down with you." 

***** 

"That should be all of them." 

"About time," Dominic muttered in response to Sorenson's announcement. His _Shadow Cat_ stood over a pair of burning Bulldog tanks, with two more smoking Bulldogs and two Harassers not far away from the wreckage. Conner's _Bushwacker_ had just finished tearing up a _Strider_ which had tried to catch them from behind while they were busy with the vehicles. 

"Come on," Conner ordered. The two Mechs started for where the dam had been, which was now a way into the drained lake bed. Missile turrets flanked the entry, but Conner's laser destroyed them quickly. 

Dominic frowned, something about the situation seemed very wrong. Admittedly, he got that feeling a lot, but... he switched on the _Shadow Cat_'s active probe and his suspicions were confirmed. "Hey chief, I've got a contact. There's an _Owens_ bit to the south..." 

He didn't need to say any more. Conner was intelligent enough to figure out the mess it would cause if they left the light Mech there—giving it a perfect opportunity to slip into their rear area when they entered the lake bed. "Only an _Owens_?" 

"Yep." 

"Okay... let's go. You lead." Conner didn't like having a lancemate lead the charge, but unable to locate the Jaguar on his own radar, he had little choice. 

Besides, though he knew all too well the perils of underestimating an enemy, it _was_ just an _Owens_. 

Dominic's first gauss slug blurred forward at about the same moment as the _Owens_ appeared on Conner's radar. The Clanner answered the _Shadow Cat_'s challenge with a flight from its LRM racks, blasting a bit of armor from the Damocles Mech but nothing very serious. 

Conner's missiles and laser lanced out to savage the _Owens_, stripping the left flank bare of armor and halting the _Owens_' forward progress. Dominic added another gauss slug which smashed the armor from the light Omni's left leg. 

The _Owens_ somehow remained upright to return fire with its LRMs again, this time choosing the _Bushwacker_. Guiding Light took no serious damage, but one of the missiles hit its cockpit, shaking Conner violently and throwing off his next laser shot. 

Dominic's lasers struck at the same moment as Conner's autocannon, this time succeeding in knocking the Jaguar off its feet. Not that it mattered, particularly, as the cannon shells punched into the _Owens'_ gyro and ripped it apart. Conner found himself gasping for breath in the sudden inferno that called itself a cockpit, but it was only for an instant before the _Wacker_'s heat sinks cooled the Mech's temperature to more acceptable levels. 

His lancemate's _Shadow Cat_ was already heading back towards the wreckage of the dam, but Conner's eyes were following a road that cut through the grass, straight into the cliff which surrounded the lake bed. "Dominic, there's a tunnel over here." He approached cautiously and stepped inside. "Come on." 

"Taking the high ground?" Dominic answered. His _Cat_ followed the _Bushwacker_ in and made an exaggerated swing of its torso, looking around before continuing forward. "Why do I feel like I'm... walking up the barrel of a large gun?" 

It took all of Conner's formidable self-control to keep from switching his comm system off. Dominic could easily be right. 

***** 

MechWarrior Derek maneuvered his _Adder_ over a rocky outcropping, finally getting a visual on the massive reading which had been driving his sensors haywire. A mangled _Union_-class DropShip, with one whole side gouged out of it, lay on one of the slopes, some of the wreckage still burning. It could only be the Inner Sphere ship that had been shot down by Tranquil's orbital defenses. 

The debris and flames were still making a mess of his sensors, but certainly there could be no threat here. There might, however, be some useful salvage. The Smoke Jaguars needed anything they could get, even the inferior Inner Sphere technology. 

One of the DropShip's Mech bays was split in half, each side like a metal cavern. Derek walked by these without concern. They would be empty after the ship's tumble from the sky. He needed to find a good spot to shut his Mech down, but there was so much debris it would be difficult to find a clear area... 

His sensors screamed a warning an instant before he caught the movement on his 360-degree strip. There had been something in the Mech bays after all. It was a Mech... one hell of a Mech. 

Twelve SRMs hammered his _Adder_'s side as Derek whirled to face the _Sunder_. The shot had been from extreme range and the accuracy gave him an uneasy feeling. _No. This freebirth Inner Sphere trash could never defeat me._ Despite being nearly three times lighter than his enemy, he was not afraid. Both his PPCs lanced out to vaporize armor on the _Sunder_'s left leg and flank. 

The assault Mech struck back with its lasers, nearly matching the damage it had taken. The _Adder_'s gyro screamed in protest from the loss of armor, but Derek held it upright. 

Small consolation as he looked up into the barrel of the _Sunder_'s heavy autocannon. For a split-second, he saw flames. Then there was nothing. 

The _Sunder_ stood over its kill for several seconds before returning to its hiding place in the ruined Mech bay. "See you in hell." 

***** 

"_Shadow Cat_ incoming." 

Conner swore at Dominic's announcement, turning from the wrecked _Firefly_ that had caught them exiting the tunnel. A Point of Elementals had accompanied the light Mech, but Dominic had taken care of them quickly enough. He turned his own _Shadow Cat_'s lasers on a single remaining turret, then turned to face north. 

Two flashes of ruby light indicated an A-variant of the medium Omni, and its pilot was obviously one of the Clan's better warriors. Both lasers cut into Dominic's right arm and sliced through, dropping the gauss rifle to the ground. Conner cringed. _He's hardly a threat anymore._

Very much a threat, however, was the other _Shadow Cat, _now sprinting forward to bring its missiles into play. Both Commando Mechs opened fire with everything range permitted, although their quick shots were poorly aimed. One of Dominic's lasers struck the forward-thrust head of the oncoming Mech, while a few of Conner's missiles blew armor from the _Cat_'s left leg. The Jaguar Mech ceased its advance, but returned fire. This time, thankfully, only one laser hit, melting armor from Dominic's right flank. 

The _Cat_ backed off a bit, and the Inner Sphere force pursued, exchanging another salvo as they passed where Sorenson had said the elevator would be. 

The sound of thrusters igniting from inside the elevator shaft froze the battle, if only for the briefest instant. The next second a shuttle burst out into Tranquil's atmosphere, quickly gaining altitude before vanishing from sight. 

Not, however, before Dominic cracked, "Think we can hitch a ride?" 

"Pay attention to the fight, Gunner." Conner was very uneasy about the whole setup, especially when he took advantage of the lull in fighting to glance about the battlefield. Just barely visible in the muddy soil, small metal objects were sticking up. _Mines! After Team Two struck, they must have been expecting us... so they should have sent reinforcements, but all they've done is mine the place... unless..._

The elevator's whine snapped him out of his thoughts just in time to see the form of a _Thor_ rising out of the elevator. "Dammit!" 

Dominic echoed his sentiment, though in far more words. "So, now what?" 

"Take the _Shadow Cat_, and watch out for mines. I'll handle the _Thor_." _Or die trying._

Skepticism dripped from Dominic's affirmative. "Got it. Have fun with the big guy. I'll bail you out when I get done here." 

Conner ignored him and lashed out with everything he had, and was rewarded when his missiles scattered over the _Thor_'s chest. His laser cut into the left arm and the autocannon hammered armor from the opposite leg. 

The _Thor_ struck back with a vengeance, its PPC melting armor over the Bushwacker's center and melting a machine gun into uselessness. Conner snorted. _Nice of you to relieve me of _that_, if you had to destroy a weapon._ Fragmenting autocannon rounds sanded more protection from Guiding Light's flanks, and spoiled Conner's next missile shot, the warheads passing just beside the Omni. 

Dominic was in a very one-sided battle with his Clan counterpart, and his was the wrong side. Something Conner had told him popped back into his head. _Watch out for mines? _He shot a quick glance around the battlefield and located one of the small metal devices, which was conveniently—or in his mind, stupidly—placed next to one of the support structures for the bridge that ran over the lake bed towards the elevator. 

"Let's see if Jags can play follow the leader," he muttered humorlessly, aiming his _Shadow Cat_ directly for the mine. His armor schematic showed armor on the Mech's legs was still quite strong. _Lucky._

His Jaguar counterpart followed, lashing out against his backplate with its Streak missiles. Dominic felt his Mech shudder as one warhead broke through and damaged the gyro. He fought gravity for a moment, then the _Cat_ had recovered and continued sprinting forward until he was nearly on top of the mine. 

He flipped his MASC on at the same instant the ground exploded around him. Sensors screamed warnings of armor damage all over the lower half of the _Shadow_ _Cat_, but he ignored them and slammed down hard on the jump jet pedals. 

Not a great combination in most cases. A much better pilot than Dominic would've had trouble keeping his Mech upright under the circumstances, but this time that was exactly what he was counting on. Black Prospect dove to the ground, burying its cockpit in the mud of the lake bed and giving the Jaguar pilot an opportunity too good to pass up. 

For a few agonizingly long seconds, Dominic was positive his plan had failed. And he was going to die for it. Then a low rumble felt even inside his cockpit convinced him otherwise. 

The bridge support began to crumble, unable to remain standing after the damage the mine's explosion had done. With the support went the bridge itself, raining huge blocks of ferrocrete on the Omnimech beneath it. Crushed beneath the debris, the _Cat_'s reactor shielding was penetrated and the reactor exploded, taking ferrocrete, Mech, and Clanner with it. 

Dominic fought Black Prospect upright, but his damage schematics showed him he would be going nowhere fast, if at all. He saw Conner's Bushwacker still dueling with the Thor, coming off on the worse end of the deal by far. "Let's see if we can fix this situation." 

Conner used up his last autocannon round on the Jaguar Omni, shattering the armor on its shoulder and ruining the missile launcher. The missiles did not detonate, continuing the same damnable lucky streak the Clan pilot seemed to have enjoyed the entire battle. _Not bad enough he blows out my targeting system and gets through a crack in my armor to blow my laser, oh no! _Growling in frustration, he fired Guiding Light's missiles, and was rewarded by a spike in the Thor's heat profile. _Engine hit. Finally._

Twin beams of emerald light stabbed through the Thor's battered chest armor, staggering it backwards as its gyro took damage. Even as it fired its autocannon, sanding more armor from the Bushwacker, Conner's missiles followed up on Dominic's damage. The warheads penetrated into the Thor's heart and followed up on the work the lasers had started. 

The Jaguar Mech dropped, its gyro ripped apart by the Commando's attack. Conner half expected the pilot to attempt to keep fighting, but the Omni's cockpit blew away. 

The Clanner had not been quick enough on the eject switch as his Mech fell. 

Carefully averting his eyes from the command couch's horizontal flight smashing its pilot against the ground, Conner opened a transmission to Sorenson. "We're done here. You can bring the field bases in. We sure as hell need them." 


	7. Poison Control

**Sword of Damocles**   
Chapter Seven: Poison Control 

_A/N- As of this chapter, the wonderful and talented Kingfisher_X4 is cowriting this story. ^_^ He wrote most of this chapter. ...Well? Applaud, darnit!_

***** 

"This will be the toughest fight we've had so far, Commando." 

Conner cringed slightly at Sorenson's analysis. The last fight had been plenty difficult for him, and he would've been perfectly happy to call it a day. It had, of course, been far too much to hope for. His eyes ran over the controls of his Thor, and he permitted himself to take a slight bit of comfort in the fact that they'd salvaged the machine. If he and Dominic were going to be getting into another mess, at least he was getting into it from the cockpit of a heavy Clan Omni. 

"Hey, great, a challenge!" Dominic sounded as if he were walking the fine line between annoyed and amused. "What this time? Maybe a few Dropships they're using as turrets?" 

"Worse," Sorenson answered promptly. "Reports put chemical storage tanks in the cavern, and they're filled with a highly corrosive gas. If those tanks are blown..." He trailed off, leaving it to the MechWarriors to figure out the rest of the sentence on their own. 

Conner felt a shudder of revulsion creeping up his spine. Nobody in their right mind would even have a potential battlefield near such a facility, let alone let the tanks rupture. _Then again, these are Clanners. Who's to say what they consider sane?_

***** 

Sinclair's head rushed as his _Thor_ was rent once again by the enemy _Orion_'s autocannon. He struggled and fought to return the machine to its feet, but the Jaguar's lucky first shot was making it difficult. The Clanner had fired off a salvo from his autocannon, which sheared away armor from the _Thor_'s torso, then followed it up with a one-two punch from his medium lasers. They had cored directly into Conner's gyro, which was proving a very telling first strike. 

He could vaguely hear Dominic swearing as he dueled with his own 'Mech's twin, the two _Shadowcat_s dancing an elaborate dance, as deadly as it was intricate. 

Conner pulled back on the control sticks again, forcing his _Thor_ into a kneeling position, which bought him just enough time to squeeze off a shot from his PPC. The _Orion_ staggered, it's torso wrenched around. Sinclair used the spare moment to return to his feet and start into another lumbering run. His 'Mech's torso rotated right, bearing on the Jaguar machine. He stabbed the button beneath his thumb, loosing the 10-centimeter autocannon on his left arm. It scarred the _Orion_, making the slightly larger machine tremble. The Jaguar turned and avenged with all its fury. The 'Mech's lasers, autocannon, and short-range missiles were devastating against the _Thor_'s already thinning armor. Then the _Orion_, in an act of desperation uncommon among the Clans, savagely smashed its arm pods into the _Thor_'s torso. 

Conner's 'Mech whipped around, threatening to fall once more to the dirt. But Conner wasn't having it. He nearly wrenched the control sticks off the panel as he vied for control. Regaining his balance, he spun left and targeted the _Orion_ again, kicking the _Thor_ into a full run. He dodged behind the elevator's support strut just as the Clanner achieved a target lock for his long-range missiles and fired, avoiding what could have ended the battle. As he cleared the obstruction, he fired everything he had, not waiting for a lock on the enemy, simply aiming and letting go. 

As one might have thought impossible, the entire volley found its mark, smashing and battering the Jaguar, finally upsetting its balance and toppling the machine. As it fell backwards, its head was impaled through the back with a stalagmite. 

Immediately he turned his attention, sighting on the enemy _Shadowcat_ still railing against Dominic Paine. His PPC lashed out, searing the 'Mech's boxy nose. The _Cat_ stopped momentarily, then launched itself into the air on pillars of ionized plasma. 

"Paine, fall back to the MFBs." 

Dominic's _Shadowcat_ was badly mauled, and Conner realized as he said it that he wasn't in any better shape. 

"Mm, that's a negative, Damocles One. Just cover me." 

In a stunning move, the _Shadowcat_ surged forward, no doubt propelled momentarily by the MASC system. It caught up to the Jaguar 'Mech, still flailing through the air. Leaning back on his haunches, Dominic sighted directly up at the enemy _Cat_ and fired, his gauss rifle and medium lasers bursting upward in a startling maneuver. The gauss rifle slug found its mark directly in one of the 'Mech's jump ports and collapsed it, sealing the system and beginning a catastrophic overload. 

The Jaguar _Shadowcat_ was now minus half of its propulsion, and the remaining lift was centered on the left side. The 'Mech tipped right, then crashed to the ground, mangled almost beyond recognition. 

As Paine's machine drew away from the fallen _Cat_, the jump port became over-pressurized, and exploded. As the dust settled, Conner realized that there was practically nothing left of the Jaguar 'Mech. 

"Dominic, that was…" 

"Incredible. Yeah, I know. Look, the convoy's on the move. I noticed an arch over here. Looks like it leads into a larger chamber. Could be where they're headed." 

Conner thought fast. "I'll go through. If it is a shortcut, you use your higher speed to come around behind them via the main passage while I draw their fire." 

"Roger." 

Sinclair pushed his throttle forward, moving towards the gaping hole in the cavern wall. He nodded silently, and passed through. 

It did, indeed, lead to the main cavern. As soon as he emerged, he was beset by two laser turrets on the far wall, 5 Elementals, and a _Bushwacker_. Out of those three, two were major threats. 

But one had just been taken off his hands. One of the trucks in the convoy exploded. The _Bushwacker_ turned to face the new threat, a _Shadowcat_ descending from above. That left Conner with turrets, and elementals. He lined up on the first of the armored characters, the barrel of his _Thor_'s autocannon sighting on the white form. Firing, he filled the air with metallic death, then watched as the soldier was torn apart. A well-placed PPC shot removed another of the toads from his threat list. 

He directed a half-aimed LRM volley at the first of the laser turrets. Several found their mark. The device did not explode, but it ceased to fire. 

_Thank God for small blessings._

The remaining elementals bounded towards him, and he fired quickly, burning away another of the super-soldiers before he stopped. 

The final two leapt forward on jets of flame, intent on grappling with his 'Mech. 

Conner stomped on the foot pedals, lighting his 'Mech's jump jets ever so slowly. Too slowly. The elementals drifted towards him. Firing blatantly, he tore one apart with his autocannon, then concentrated on the last threat. His PPC missed utterly, but did succeed in spiking his heat into the yellow. 

As the elemental soared in, Conner flailed, and somehow, by a stroke of luck, brutally slapped the elemental aside, causing him to drift crazily and finally smash into the wall. 

As he slammed into the ground, his 'Mech turned involuntarily, and he could see Dominic. The _Shadowcat_ looked like it had been systematically stripped of its armor and laid bare. But it was still fighting fit. The _Bushwacker_ was a smoldering heap, and three of the trucks were down, as was the second laser turret. The _Cat_ limped up the ramp, then opened fire on the unseen party. There were a pair of explosions – the trucks, Conner assumed – but Dominic kept firing. 

Sinclair finally realized something was wrong as the _Shadowcat_ suddenly reversed and backed down the ramp, finally turning and sprinting away from the location. 

A _Firefly_ rounded the corner, and Conner left it no window of opportunity. His PPC charred armor over its torso, his autocannon stripped it clean of armor over the torsos. Last but not least, the 15 LRMs from Conner's shoulder-mounted rack impacted the light 'Mech, tearing it apart. It collapsed. 

"You all right, Paine?" 

There was a groan. "Just dandy, boss. Hey, here's an idea. I'll take out that shuttle repair station while you take out this HQ, then we take a moment and reflect on life." 

Conner grinned. "You want to make a stop at the MFBs." 

"They can't do much for this armor, but maybe they'll be able to slap on some more ammo." 

"Then what are you waiting for? Take out that shuttle station." 

***** 

Several minutes passed, then the still unarmored _Shadowcat_ and the somewhat more equipped _Thor_ were advancing again through the cave. Something broke through Conner's comm line. An intercept. 

"…blow those tanks. I do not want those freebirth escaping alive." 

The gas tanks! _No_. 

Paine commented briskly, "Oh, you have got to be kidding me…" 

Sorenson interrupted. "Damocles, you have to stop them. If those tanks blow, we're finished." 

Conner shoved forward his throttle, racing along the road. As the _Black Hawk_ powered up to contest him, he merely shoved it aside, letting it backpedal, then simply fall into the lake. 

Then he spotted his new target: another _Orion_, launching a full salvo at the chemical tanks. 

The PPC and the autocannon fired in tandem, mostly striking the _Orion_'s leg. The machine stumbled, then fell. He raked it with his weapons again, punching through its paper-thin back armor and ripping open its internals. 

"Well, that was easy." 

He finished speaking just in time to hear an anguished scream over the commline, and whirled the _Bushwacker_ around. The _Black Hawk_ had used its laser compliment like a can opener and sliced through the top portion of the _Shadowcat_'s torso… and its head... before turning on the tanks. 

Firing madly, he downed the _Black Hawk_ in a matter of moments, then moved to inspect the fallen _Shadowcat_. 

"Dominic! You alive?" 

A long pause greeted him, then a burst of static. "Oh, dammit, yes… I know because I feel more pain than is possible after death…" 

Conner sighed with relief. Losing Dominic would herald the end of Conner's campaign, and probably the end of his life. 

"All right. Well, let's get you out of there and then get out of here, what say?" 

Paine muttered something quietly, then said, "I'm waiting right here…" 

Conner sighed. 


End file.
